Despite the fact that the iPhone 5S is supposed to have better battery life than its predecessor, a small number of units are exhibiting extreme battery draining issues. This is, according to Apple, due to a manufacturing defect, and only affects a minor portion of devices. An Apple spokesperson said that the company “recently discovered a manufacturing issue affecting a very limited number of iPhone 5S devices that could cause the battery to take longer to charge or result in reduced battery life”.

Apple is replacing affected units at no cost. “We are reaching out to customers with affected phones and will provide them with a replacement phone”, said the spokesperson, who did not mention an exact number of units affected; instead, “a few thousand phones” was used to describe how widespread this issue is. To put things in context, Apple sold 9 million iPhones over the first weekend of availability, granted, numbers are combined for the 5S and 5C.